MethamphetamineLily diCiurcio & Anna mielcarz

What is Methamphetamine?

Methamphetamine is a synthetic stimulant drug that is highly addictive. Methamphetamine comes from its parent drug amphetamine. The two differ because when amphetamine and methamphetamine are taken at comparable doses, much more of the drug floods into the brain from meth then from the amphetamine itself. Methamphetamine was developed early in the 20th century. The drug was initially used for nasal decongestants and bronchial inhalers.

Methamphetamine (powder form)

How is it used?

There are many ways that Methamphetamine can be used. Some of the ways include; orally (pill form), smoked, snorted (powder form), injected and can also be taken with alcohol. Smoking or injecting the drug directly into the bloodstream rushes it the quickest to the brain where reaction is immediately created. Meth comes in clear chunky crystals resembling ice.

•Approximately 1.2 million people (0.4 percent of the population) reported using meth in the last month •approximately 13 million people over the age of 12 have used methamphetamine •abuse of the drug tripled from 3% in 1996 to 9% in 2006

Appearance as sold

Treatment

The first step to recovering from methamphetamine abuse is to seek help. You must detox. This means to rid your body of the drug. The next step is to help you persevere and continue staying clean, via behavioral counseling. The rest of this process depends on your ability to stay clean. The are however methods where certain medicines such as Paxil that can help reduce the craving for the drug and medicines like, Bupropion, Modafinil and Mirtazapine that help suppress the withdrawal symptoms.